Donald Led Duke dies at 64

ALBANY — Donald Led Duke, a gregarious bricklayer who rose to become the head of the Capital Region’s top construction company, has died. He was 64.

Led Duke was the principal owner of BBL Construction Services, a company that has built dozens of prominent buildings in Albany, including the high rise at 677 Broadway and the state comptroller offices at 110 State St.

The cause of death is not immediately clear. BBL confirmed the death, saying Led Duke was found dead Monday morning.

Here’s a short profile of Led Duke I wrote in 2008:

He started as a bricklayer . He’s now the principal owner of the Capital Region’s top construction company.

Donald Led Duke has a fancy office in a corner of the Washington Avenue Extension headquarters of BBL Construction Services LLC. He has a 13,000-square-foot house in Voorheesville. He’s a wealthy man.

But he still has a bricklayer ‘s build and hands. He’ll wear a T-shirt to an office building where many men wear ties. And he says he’s still a mason at heart.

“I’m a bricklayer , and I’m doing all right,” Led Duke said. “And anybody can do it, because I’m not the brightest light.”

Self-effacing comments seem common from Led Duke , who in 1969 started modestly in the construction business but eventually launched Colonie Masonry Co. (The company still exists, but he sold his interest in it long ago.)

In the 1970s, Led Duke became friends with Robert Barry and Michael Bette, who together owned a construction company. Led Duke was invited to join them in 1982 — forming Barry, Bette & Led Duke , or BBL.

Barry soon retired, but the company continued. By 1998, with total revenue of $353 million, BBL was the Capital Region’s largest construction company and fourth-largest privately held company. It had offices in Texas, Florida and West Virginia, and subsidiaries elsewhere.

But the partnership didn’t last, doomed in part by divisions between LedDuke and Bette’s four children, who had grown prominent in the company.

In the beginning, “all the little kids were just little kids,” Led Duke said. “But little kids grow up.”

The 1998 split was anything but simple.

Led Duke got BBL’s local companies and BBL Carlton, its union division based in West Virginia.

Associated with Led Duke is Columbia Development Cos., which buys and develops property. Yet Kevin Bette owns First Columbia, a company in Latham with a similar mission.

Confused? Many people are.

But both sides did well after the split.

Bette & Cring, with $127 million in Capital Region projects in 2006, is the area’s second-largest contractor, as ranked by The Business Review, a weekly paper.

BBL is the largest, with $224 million in 2006 local projects.

Led Duke is prominent, too, usually described as gregarious and colorful.

He loves to gamble. He adores the New York Giants.

But he doesn’t like publicity.

Galas aren’t his thing. He avoids news conferences, or stands in the background if he is required to be there.

Still, on a recent day, Led Duke proudly gave a reporter a tour of the BBL office — showing off the large bell employees ring when they sign new deals, and even stopping at the big filing cabinet that holds records of the company’s much-discussed campaign donations.

Led Duke said BBL gives openly, but said he believes the process is flawed. He’d prefer elections be publicly financed, he said.

I worked as a sub on one of Don’s projects when I first moved here 25 years ago. I was short a man one day when he stopped by the job site. He dropped everything to pitch in and help set trusses. He joked and kidded around just like the rest of us.

Don was a tough business man but he took good care of those who worked for him. I’ll miss him.

This community has lost a real leader. A man who did not
judge people by their wealth but by their character. He was
a gentleman with the strenght of a bear. He helped so many
people and asked for nothing in return. I know he is in charge
of building the greatest mansions in heaven.
God bless you Donny you will be forever missed but never
forgotten.

We were were lucky to have have a chance to have worked with Don. He was always a straight forward great guy who you just knew really loved what he did. Our favorite thing to say was “we have worked with alot of people and these guys are true experts.” He was a good man.

I am heartbroken. And every citizen in Albany should be heartbroken as well. This man did more to help this city than any other developer in the State.
My sympathy to the family. This is a pain that can’t be realized by us “commenters” it is a pain that must be aged before it is realized.

We were were lucky to have have a chance to have worked with Don. He was always a straight forward great guy who you just knew really loved what he did. Our favorite thing to say was “we have worked with alot of people but these guys are true experts.” He was a good man.

The City has lost a true legend with the passing of Mr. Led Duke. Only had a chance to speak to him once, but I will remember it forever. I asked him Mr. Duke how did you become so successful, he reached out his hand, and squeezed my hand and asked if I felt his grip. I wanted to scream it was so tight, he stared at me and said by the grip your feeling now, and never ever quiting.

He has truly changed the landscape of the Capital District with great building projects, that will continue to live on for years. Thanks Mr Duke for all your efforts.

LeDuke was a great guy! I have (4) brothers and all have worked at BBL at one time or another. Nothing can compare to LeDuke’s generosity and genuine caring of his employees. LeDuke never forgot where he came from (simple beginnings). Duke will be sorely missed! Rest in peace ~ good friend!

A truly excellent builder. A force in the community. A larger than life figure from a mold I am not certain they make any more.

At the same time, you can’t discuss or understand his legacy without a thorough understanding of his relationship with Nicolla and Columbia Development. And with his passing it will be interesting to see if more, not less, development may occur due to a loosening of the rules on who can build where. That is no criticism of Led Duke–as he always said he didn’t make the rules, he just played by them.

Donny, one of my dad’s best friends, was always so nice to me. He was a person that saw this or that, white or black– there were no grey areas! In other words, when Donny set his mind to do something, he did it 110%, all or nothing–there was no inbetween… He had amazing magnetism, passion and willpower. He was a man who knew how to succeed.

When I was training for a triathlon for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training Program to help people with Blood Cancers, Donny was the first person to send me a a generous cheque for $500. Not only did he send me one from his personal account that he shared with his beautiful and loving wife, Chick, but he went above and beyond and matched that one with another from his business.

Donny helped me succeed in raising enough money for my triathlon to help those who were in desperate need of hope. And, that’s the kind of guy he was. Full of heart.

He lived every day to its fullest, and now he smiling down on his friends and loved ones in pure peace. 🙂